Michael Cheika's Australia started in ominous fashion and should have taken an early lead through the boot of Foley, but he pushed a straightforward penalty kick wide.

And England had another early reprieve when a try by Tevita Kuridrani was struck off after being referred to the television match official.

After Dane Haylett-Petty kicked through, Owen Farrell was enveloped by David Pocock, Mike Brown fumbled behind the try-line and Kuridrani touched down the loose ball.

The TMO decided Pocock had knocked the ball forward in the act of tackling Farrell, but the hosts were punished for their lack of focus from the very next phase.

Wallabies bosses up front

Australia had the better of the early scrums, which were expected to be a controversial area

Australia won the scrum against the head, the ball was spun left and winger Naivalu, making his first Test start, skipped over in the corner unopposed.

During a spiky build-up, both head coaches accused the opposition pack of illegal scrummaging.

But it was the fired-up Wallabies who had the best of the early set-pieces, and another good shove on the England try-line led to three more easy points for Foley.

Farrell settled England nerves with a penalty of his own before Ford chipped through for winger Yarde, who was just beaten to the touch-down by Haylett-Petty.

Another Farrell penalty reduced Australia's lead to four points before Joseph latched on to a Farrell hack-through and went over for a try. Sekope Kepu having spilled a poor pass by scrum-half Nick Phipps.

Foley levelled things up after a neck roll by Tom Wood on Pocock before another penalty on the stroke of half-time edged the Wallabies ahead again.

The best team-talk in history?

Marland Yarde just beat Israel Folau to touch down after a cute kick through by Jonathan Joseph

Whatever Jones said to his team during the break had the desired effect, because after the restart everything suddenly clicked into place.

First, Bath centre Joseph turned creator with a cute kick through for Yarde, who just beat Israel Folau to the touch-down.

'We were terrible' - and what else they said

England boss Eddie Jones: "We were terrible in the first half. I don't think we could have tried to play worse than we did. We rebounded very well to get back into the game and, conversely, in the first 20 minutes of the second half we were outstanding."

Jones on the unbeaten run, despite missing a number of first-team players: "It really shows where the side is going. The real test is when you are not at your best and have not got your best players."

Man of the match Ben Youngs: "Sometimes there is time for the hair dryer but Eddie just said we couldn't play any worse and it was up to us to rectify it. We knew what to do and it was just about doing it."

The pundit's view

Former England fly-half Paul Grayson on BBC Radio 5 live: "England have shown mental resilience in adversity. Eddie Jones couldn't have planned it better. It was nowhere near perfect but a brilliant, brilliant finish to an outstanding year."

The players' reaction

This is what scrum half Ben Youngs made of the win

Replacement scrum-half Danny Care saw the lighter side of a poor second half drop-goal attempt

England lock Courtney Lawes thanked the fans after his impressive performance against Australia

England completed an unbeaten four-game autumn series without World Rugby's breakthrough player of the Maro Itoje, who returned from injury on Saturday for Saracens